Ossoff Rebuked for Israel Arms Sale Votes

Votes by Sen. Jon Ossoff in support of resolutions calling for a halt of U.S. shipments of specific weapons to Israel met with overwhelming, but not universal, criticism from within Atlanta’s Jewish community.

Ossoff, a Jewish Democrat who has talked publicly about relatives living in Israel, voted Nov. 20 in favor of two of three resolutions advanced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. Those resolutions called for a halt to U.S. delivery of tank rounds and mortar shells. Ossoff voted against a third resolution that called for a halt to delivery of guidance kits for joint direct attack munitions, known as JDAMS.

Sixteen Democratic senators, including Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, voted in favor of advancing all three resolutions, while another Democrat supported one of the three. Though the resolutions were defeated in the Senate by a large margin, their votes reflected divisions in the Democratic Party over Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist massacre of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of 250 more.

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Ossoff’s votes likely will be an issue when he seeks re-election in 2026.
The first-term senator explained his votes in a Senate floor speech. “I remain steadfastly committed to the U.S.-Israel alliance, and I also believe we must be willing to say no, even to our closest friends, when we believe it is in America’s national interest,” Ossoff said in closing.

He began by noting that in 1982, as Israel fought in Lebanon against the Palestine Liberation Organization, Republican President Ronald Reagan called on Prime Minister Menachem Begin to halt Israeli bombardment of Beirut. The bombing stopped, Reagan “then blocked the provision of cluster munitions to Israel out of concern that their use by the IDF was killing too many innocent people,” Ossoff said.

The 1982 experience is “not a perfect mirror image for the agonizing situation we face today . . . But I tell this story to remind my colleagues that in the pursuit of America’s national interests, to use the leverage that comes with the provision of arms is not just sometimes necessary — it is expected and appropriate,” he said.

“No foreign government, no matter how close an ally, gets everything it wants, whenever it wants, to use however it wants,” Ossoff said.

“No one in this body or the American government has suggested that Israel lay down its arms and be overrun, or that Israel does not have a right, and indeed an obligation, to defeat its enemies and defend its people. Rather, the United States has insisted that Israel’s conduct of the war respect our interests and our values — the interests and values of Israel’s closest ally. And yet, for the most part, that insistence has been ignored.”

Ossoff, along with fellow Sen. Raphael Warnock, were rebuked in a letter signed by nearly 50 communal groups, congregations, and schools, which was issued under the umbrella of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

Ossoff said that Netanyahu is “beholden” to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Interior Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, right-wing ministers who have threatened to bring down his government if the prime minister agrees to any deal to end the war.

The weapons involved in the three resolutions account for less than five percent of U.S. arms shipments to Israel over the next three years and that most of the items specified would not reach Israel until 2026 or 2027, and as such would not impact Israel’s existing weapons supply, he said. In total, the value of the weapons sales was estimated at $20 billion.

Ossoff’s explanation was not well received. The sharpest language in response included “shock,” “astonishing,” “betrayed,” “abandonment,” and “utterly specious.”

“To use the word disappointment would be an understatement,” said Dov Wilker, regional director of the American Jewish Committee in Atlanta. The votes by Ossoff and Warnock “likely strained relationships” with the Jewish community.

“I don’t see how this advances any of the goals that the senators have. It doesn’t return the displaced citizens to the north and to the south of Israel. It doesn’t help bring the hostages home. It doesn’t protect Israeli civilians or Palestinian civilians,” Wilker said. “This is a statement that sort of emboldens Iran and its proxies, and it’s a sad day for those who support Israel.”

Ossoff and Warnock were rebuked in a letter signed by nearly 50 communal groups, congregations, and schools, which was issued under the umbrella of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. [Note: The Atlanta Jewish Times was a signatory to the letter.]

Ossoff was elected in January 2021, defeating Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue by 55,000 votes in a runoff, after the pair advanced from the November 2020 general election. The list of potential Republican opponents in 2026 is topped by Gov. Brian Kemp, who is barred from seeking a third term. Others mentioned include U.S. Reps. Earl “Buddy” Carter and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Warnock, who faces re-election in 2028, has ties in the Jewish community, notably through joint efforts on various issues between Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he remains senior pastor, and The Temple. He was elected the same day as Ossoff, defeating appointed Sen. Kelly Loeffler to fill two years remaining in the term of Sen. Johnny Isakson, who resigned in 2019.

Rabbi Peter Berg, senior rabbi at The Temple, told the AJT: “This vote was a tremendous disappointment to me.  I concur with Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, who said ‘No friend of Israel’ should support blocking these sales.”

The lone Jewish voice in the Georgia legislature also voiced disapproval.
Democratic state Rep. Esther Panitch told the AJT: “I am disheartened that both of our U.S. senators voted in favor of the resolutions.”

His votes “contradict Senator Ossoff’s claims of ‘ironclad’ commitment to and steadfast support of Israel, aimed at penalizing Israel and thereby weakening a democratically elected government at a critical time. Israel is fighting on behalf of the Western world so that this conflict doesn’t arrive on our shores. To be clear, the Israeli opposition leaders to Netanyahu’s government also advocated for these resolutions to fail,” she said.

“In the end, the failed vote will not be felt by the Israeli forces or government, but acute feelings of abandonment by our senators are already being felt by pro-Israel and freedom-loving constituents, both Jewish and not Jewish, in Georgia,” Panitch said.

Chuck Berk, co-leader of the Republican Jewish Coalition chapter in Atlanta, told the AJT: “It is astonishing to see that these two Georgia senators, who ran on supporting Israel, have now voted not to provide U.S. aid while Israel is in a fight for its survival. A man’s word should be his bond — and apparently these senators will say what they need to get elected but can’t be trusted to fulfill their promises.”

Former Republican state Rep. Mitchell Kaye said: “Ossoff and Warnock betrayed those in the Jewish community who are pro-Israel. It should have been an easy vote as the measure was not going to pass anyway. Instead, they doubled down in support of the pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat party.”

Ossoff was praised by J Street, self-described as “pro-Israel, pro-peace.” The group’s statement said: “J Street Georgia stands with our Georgia Senators who took a tough vote of conscience on Wednesday . . . His votes this week on symbolic resolutions . . . were not about delaying or canceling aid and have nothing to do with defensive weapons or systems. These votes will do absolutely nothing to prevent Israel from defending itself against its enemies. Instead, they sent a clear message that Israel’s closest ally can and must engage in thoughtful oversight to align the use of U.S. weapons with our values, laws, and shared strategic interests. Senator Ossoff’s record affirms his steadfast commitment to the U.S.-Israel alliance and to ensuring Israel’s long-term security.”

But the general tone of the response was reflected in comments to the AJT from Michael Rosenzweig, a Jewish community activist and board member of Democratic Majority For Israel.

“Senator Ossoff’s votes are deeply disappointing to the pro-Israel community, not least because his reasoning supporting those votes was so utterly specious. In his speech on the Senate floor explaining his votes, Senator Ossoff harshly criticized Israel for its ‘lack of sufficient concern for innocent Palestinian lives,’ asserting that its conduct of the war in Gaza has been ‘gratuitously brutal,’ resulting in ‘unnecessary civilian casualties’ because of Israel’s ‘reckless disregard for the innocent.’ Those assertions completely ignored multiple, repeated statements from military experts lauding Israel for its extraordinary efforts to prevent or minimize civilian casualties, statements that I and others had explicitly brought to the Senator’s attention before the vote.

“Moreover, the Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly confirmed the conclusions of these military experts. Yet Senator Ossoff, who has had no military experience and by all accounts lacks any military expertise, thought he knew better and cast his votes on that basis . . . Hamas started the war with its heinous, unprovoked attack on October 7, and it flagrantly violates international law and all notions of decency by embedding itself in hospitals, schools and civilian homes,” Rosenzweig said. “Had the resolutions Senator Ossoff supported passed, that would have encouraged Hamas to harden its position by continuing to reject a ceasefire and release of the hostages, thereby perpetuating the very casualties Senator Ossoff decried.”